Coal miner New Hope has lamented the Queensland government’s decision to delay approval of the New Acland Stage 3 expansion until legal action has been concluded.
New Hope met with the state government to present a roadmap to final approvals for the Stage 3 project, after the High Court of Australia earlier this month granted community group Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) special leave to appeal an earlier ruling on the mine’s expansion.
The Queensland Court of Appeal in 2019 ruled against OCAA, finding that a Land Court decision in 2017 against the expansion of the mine had been affected by apprehended bias.
However, the ruling earlier in June meant that the High Court would now hear OCAA’s argument.